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Provo • BYU basketball coach Dave Rose's next task just might be the most difficult of his six-year tenure: Keep a season that just five days ago was being called the best in school history from spiraling downward.
Wednesday night's 82-64 loss to New Mexico still fresh in their minds, the 27-3 Cougars did not practice on Thursday. Rose gave them the day off from the hardwoods to rest, heal and take care of some personal matters.
In a news conference appearance with athletic director Tom Holmoe and BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins in which the officials discussed the honor code and the recent dismissal of star center Brandon Davies, Rose said he met individually with players on Thursday afternoon.
A team meeting was scheduled for Thursday evening.
Players were not made available for interviews, despite the fact that seniors Jackson Emery, Jimmer Fredette and Logan Magnusson will be playing their final game at the Marriott Center on Saturday when the Cougars play host to Wyoming (1:30 p.m., The Mtn.)
After scoring 25 of his team's 33 second-half points against the Lobos, Fredette said the Cougars "will be all right" several times in Wednesday's postgame news conference.
"We just have to pull together. I think we are going to be all right," he said, referencing the dismissal of Davies. "We just didn't play well tonight. ... We are going to be fine. Tonight was a tough game for us. Lots of teams come off big emotional games, then lose the next one, regardless of whether they have all their players or not."
After riddling San Diego State last week with a barrage of 3-pointers, Charles Abouo and Noah Hartsock combined to go 1 of 10 from the field, including 0 of 5 from 3-point range.
"We have a chance to win a conference title on Saturday. So that's something we have to think about," Abouo said. "There are different parts of the season left, but we just got to take it one game at a time. Winning this game Saturday is definitely going to help us get in the right direction."
It was BYU's worst shooting performance at home all season (33.9 percent) and the worst it has shot from three-point range home or away this year (19.2 percent).
Injury update
Rose said at the news conference that minor, nagging injuries are his biggest concern, not his team's confidence level after the 18-point loss.
Backup forward Logan Magnusson suffered a bruised back while taking a charge against the Lobos. Center James Anderson is still trying to recover from a slight shoulder separation. Starting two guard Jackson Emery is still having issues with the top of his foot that cause pain, and starting power forward Noah Hartsock is still bothered by a mid-foot sprain.
Briefly
Rose said the possibility exists that he will use a different starting lineup on Saturday against Wyoming than he used against New Mexico, which could mean that Anderson won't start. Instead, the Cougars could go small with Kyle Collinsworth starting and Hartsock moving over to the center position. ... The Cougars will "probably sub a lot more, to give our players a better chance to win," Rose said Thursday. Saturday's game
Wyoming at BYU, 1:30 p.m.
TV: The Mtn.